Arranged Marriage - A Dream Come True
by SasuSaku-CursedMelody
Summary: The popular guy she always dreamt of marrying had finally come true, but was it really how she thought it'd be? Learning about his past, losing a dear friend and overcoming multiple obstacles, Sakura faces reality and how things may not always seem how they look. And Sasuke Uchiha being one of the very first's. Maybe OOC; SasuSaku[main] NaruHina, NejiTen and SaiIno - Highschool AU.
1. The beginnings

A young, long haired pinkette pushed past multiple shoulders.

"Ichigo daifuku, please!"

The group turned around, disrupted by the young girl's shout as she waved money into the air.

"Five ichigo daifuku, please!" she repeated, ignoring the stares.

It was that time of the year again, where the school would release the famous belly thick rice cakes that held those sweet, sweet red bean paste that everyone loved. Especially this young gal who had pushed past everyone just to get another set of five.

"Sakura-chan," the woman looked up to her with a raised brow. "You just bought ten of these fifteen minutes ago, dear."

The crowd muffled in laughter as Sakura casually blinked as if she was confused.

"Hai, demo, these are also for my friends." she cheekily smiled as she threw one into her mouth. "Please don't misunderstand."

The woman blinked. Already, there were five packages gathered in front of her by the pinkette, just waiting to be bought and gobbled down. With sweat slowly blinking from the woman's forehead, she slowly nodded and reached out for the yen by the grinning pink cherry blossom. "Uhm, alright then.." she slowly nodded. "You have a good-"

"Arigatou gozaimasouu," Sakura sung. Already few meters away, she was already skipping with the bag hanging on her arm, waving at the woman with one of the daifuku's hanging from her mouth. The woman blinked and then stared at the crowd who all held the same expression.

Such a big appetite.

* * *

"Sakura-san.. if you keep eating like that, you're going to get sick.."

"Ahh, daijoubou. I have a strong stomach so no need to worry about me Hinata-chan," Sakura casually waved as she munched into one of the rice cakes. "I mean, these are limited anyways. So it's better to get them now then later before they're all out, right?" she nudged the girl playfully.

Hinata was a girl around the same age as her, just a couple months younger by chance. She was the cousin of the student council president, Hyuuga Neji and belonged to the known badminton team along with Sakura herself. Frankly, this girl was beautiful as she had deep, lavender eyes and a long silky hime cut that traveled delicately to her waist. Also, something Sakura greatly envied about her despite constantly denying it, Hinata had a womanly and slender figure; one that most boys would usually crave for. However, that was always settled against them by Sakura and a few of their teammates.

"Uhm, hai." Hinata chuckled, nodding her head. Looking back at her bento, she slowly glanced at Sakura's. It was only the stackage of the rice cakes she had bought from earlier. No bento, no drinks, no anything except for the sweetened desserts. "Sakura-san, you've been eating like this for weeks now, did.." she paused. Sakura turned to her, tilting her head to the side confused.

"Nani?" she asked, her mouth filled. "Is something the matter hime'?"

"Eh..? Uh.. iie, nevermind." Hinata quickly shook her hand.

"Pft, nice try. Demo, y'know I ain't that Uzumaki kid." Sakura swallowed, wavering her finger. "So don't you dare get flustered with me, I'm not Naruto you know."

Hinata quickly blushed, looking away from Sakura as she quickly pulled a hair strand behind her ear. "G-gomenasai," she quickly nodded. "I was just worried because.. I don't ever see you carrying a bento around anymore and you're always seemingly buying sweets from the shop." she squinted her eyes. "..Gomen ne'."

"Ahhh, so that's what you meant." Sakura nodded. Tapping a spoon to her chin, she moved her head to the side and giggled. "And daijoubou, this is actually a regular thing for me at the moment," she smiled. "So nopes, I'm purposely not making a bento so I can have an excuse to buy all these deliciouso' sweets," she patted the stack as she laughed. "Smart, right?"

The girl slowly looked at the Haruno. Forcing a smile, she gave a nod and then returned to stare at her own food. Lavender slowly softened as fingers traveled to pick up an onigiri. "Sakura-san.." she began. "Uhm.. would you like some?"

"Eh?" Sakura turned to her. Rice cake was still muffled in her mouth and with a quick gulp, she shyly gulped it down, scratching her head. "Ahaha, gomen ne'," she giggled to herself. Looking up and staring at the onigiri, Sakura looked at her own. The type of food they were eating was completely different.. it almost embarrassed her to be near such a neat and polite girl. Shyly clearing her throat and turning to her, the Haruno bit down her lip embarrassingly. "Ano.. sure, what is it?" she asked.

"Onigiri with red bean paste filling," Hinata smiled cheerfully. "You like red bean paste, right?"

The Haruno blinked, giving off a quick giggle and then scratching her head. "Haha, I guess." she shrugged as she took the onigiri happily. "Uhm, arigatou Hinata-chan." she bowed her head. "You really are as sweet as they say."

"E-eh?" she stuttered, unsure on how to respond. Pink quickly rushed to her cheeks as she shyly looked away.

Hinata didn't really have many friends at the school due to her shy demeanor, also because of how all the boys would mostly look her way. It was hard for her to make friends and rarely did she ever receive any sort of a compliment from another girl. Pressing her lips nervously, Hinata nodded her head and looked at the girl with orbs slightly wavering. "A-Arigatou Sakura-san," she tried to smile.

Sakura turned to her, surprised at the girl's sudden reaction. Today, she had seen the Hyuuga sitting at lunch alone and normally, the two never talked. But just for today, she had decided that she wanted to get to know this girl a little more since they were on the same badminton team. It wouldn't hurt for just trying to get to know a person, right?

And surprisingly, she was quickly growing fond of her.

"Waaaaah, is that Sasukeh-kuun?" one of the girls squealed from a crowd. "Oh gosh, he's so handsome today!"

The fangirls skipped over and joined into the squeal as Sakura quickly turned her head to their direction. "..Sasuke-kun?" she repeated.

Hinata glanced at her, knowing about the girl's feelings.

Sakura was a total nerd in the school; a top student, a badminton player; one with one of the scariest hits, but also, a big fan of Uchiha Sasuke. When first meeting his eyes, Sakura had concluded that she had fallen in love him. Was it his good looks and his cool personality? Probably. That was what everyone else seemed to think. But, it really wasn't a surprise. Every girl in the school would usually drop head over heels to him. Well, everyone except Hyuuga Hinata.

"Sakura-san, would you like to go and see Sasuke-kun as well?"

The Haruno slowly blinked as if she was just staring off into space. Turning around, she met with a curious, sweet-smiling Hinata who had turned her attention to her. With pink quickly blushing to her cheeks, the pinkette quickly waved her hand away.

"I-Iie, daijoubou!" she laughed. "It would be such an embarrassment for me to go see Sasuke-kun like this, you know. I mean, I'm basically covered in this daifuku powder and him seeing like this would only make me seem like a total idiot, ahaha!" The girl quickly scratched her head, giving off a humurous chuckle. "I can't allow myself to have a bad first impression y'know. I mean, I might disgust him."

Hinata slowly looked at her and then nodded in understanding. "Uh.. hai," she smiled. "Demo, Sakura-san.. you're pretty no matter what kind of situation or dirt you're in," the girl awkwardly laughed. "I'm sure Sasuke-kun wouldn't mind. But if you don't want to, then I believe that's fine as well."

Sakura smiled at the girl's compliment, turning around, she went back to biting into her pink daifuku. To be honest, she did want to go and see Sasuke-kun. She did want to go over there and squeal along with all the other girls. She wanted to stare at him in awe and call out his name, in a chance to where he might possibly turn around and look at her. But, she couldn't allow herself to do so..

Because there was another thing. Something that would later tear her apart, emotionally and physically. Something that would possibly ruin her from the inside out.

Uchiha Sasuke held a crush on Hyuuga Hinata; something Sakura knew and would later experience within.

* * *

**N/A:**

_Hi there, and thank you so much for reading. I'm still a beginner at writing so I apologize for all the run-on sentences and what not. If you have questions, critics or anything, I'd be happy to read them because I'm still of course, learning._

**_A spoiler about the pairings, but also to warn those who are not fans:_**

_Like said in the description, the pairings are: SasuSaku[Main], NaruHina, InoSai/SaiIno(whichever you prefer, lol) and NejiTen. This is for the most part. The side-pairings that will be brought up later on are SuiKarin, ShikaTema(hinted in the beginning) and a rivalry of ShiSaku. I apologize if you are not in favor of any of these pairings. Also, this story also involves a little anti SasuKarin, one-sided SasuHina(a bit anti I guess) and a somewhat one-sided NaruSaku(more or so, I made it brotp sense). And I hope you get where this is all exactly going.. because I am a horrible explainer. The negativity and the portrayals' of these characters and the pairings may be ooc', just a warning to all. _

_Thank you for reading and for all the support!_


	2. Somewhere in the Sky

The two returned to class with Sakura giggling as she skipped with Hinata while tugging her by the hand. She still had approximately six of those delicious daifuku's left, carrying them in one arm as she swung with the staggering Hyuuga in the other.

"Yoshaaa," Sakura sung as she spun around with a grin. "I'll see you then, Hinata-chan!" she gave a little peace sign to her forehead.

Hinata slowly blinked before noticing that they had already arrived to Sakura's classroom. "Uhm, hai," she slowly nodded her head. Readying to turn around, she paid a small smile to her lips before bowing. But before so, arms had quickly brought themselves around the girl, widening the Hyuuga's orbs. "E-eh?" she blinked.

"It was fun," she heard Sakura grin.

She turned to her, her heart somewhat clenching against her chest as she stared at the young cherry blossom's expression.. It was so peaceful and genuine. Lavender slowly softened as they stared into her emerald orbs. Maybe if possible.. she could finally have a true-

Sakura opened her eyes and turned to her, giving an awkward look of confusion. "Is something wrong, Hinata?" she curiously asked.

The Hyuuga quickly shook her head as she waved her hands defensively. "Uh.. i-iie," she pulled away from Sakura. "I'm fine, I'm just a bit tired." she awkwardly laughed. Sakura slowly blinked at her, almost as if studying her. Scratching her head, she decided to shrug it off and pulled a cheeky grin instead.

"Well, okay." she smiled, reassuring the girl. Stepping back and spinning around, the Haruno dashed a peace sign to her forehead. "Anyways, ja ne', Hinata-chan!" she stuck out her tongue. "I'll see you later and if you don't mind, I'd like to hangout with you again some time!"

She softly blinked as the Haruno spun around into the classroom and slowly disappeared. Lavender turned away and gazed to her open palm, something that she just noticed now. A pink daifuku.. Something slightly warmed itself to her chest. Raising her eyes, Hinata turned and looked to the classroom with a small smile shyly hinting to her lips. She held the daifuku to her chest, her steps softly taking her past the room, her eyes slowly closing. "Ja ne', Sakura-san.." she smiled.

Maybe.. maybe she could finally have a precious person to her that she could possibly call a friend. Someone she could possibly laugh with, talk weird things about with and possibly share secrets. Hinata opened her eyes, revealing soft lavender and turned away.

* * *

Sakura tapped her chin with her pencil abruptly as she squinted her eyes to the board.

It was another boring note lecture by Hatake Kakashi; her sensei who had those super lazy eyes and that strange white hair that always seemed to stick up no matter what he did to it. Another thing to it, he had this annoying white mask he'd always wear to hide the stupid bottom half of his face.. and it annoyed Sakura to an extent. And sometime this year, Sakura along with many other students, had sworn upon themselves to rip off his mask and reveal his true identity. Sometime.. before she graduated.

Looking back down onto her paper, Sakura began scribbling down the notes.

"Ne ne', Kakashi-sensei!" one of the students waved their arm into the air. "Are we gonna do anything for Valentine's day?"

Sakura's head quickly shot up. ..Valentine's day? She had almost forgotten about it...!

It was a very important day to the girls of konohagakure high school... and some boys. But more importantly, it was a precious day to Sakura as it was the only day where she could possibly show her love to Uchiha Sasuke; the man of her dreams as well as her first love. Barely, she would see him at school. The only times would be when they were at lunch, but that was when he would be crowded by the other girls of their year. However, Valentine's day was a special day where each and every girl would separate themselves away from the usual crowd in a way so they could all privately talk to him and confess their feelings. Whether that was declaring their love and then giving him the chocolates or just giving the chocolates and then running away, it was all up to them. But, for Sakura it was the only time where she could just talk to him. Even if that meant making a fool out of herself while she tried to stutter words to just speak to him.

But every year, she succeeded.

However, that'd most likely change now since she had actually forgotten it due to her hard studies and upon being clueless on what exactly to do and what to give him. This year, it would probably just be a big failure...

Thoughts quickly flashed to her mind. A bunch of girls were gathered around the popular Uchiha, they were all throwing their boxes of chocolates into the air with him smirking and thanking them as he accepted each and every one of them. But Sakura, she was to be on an lone bench with nothing.. nothing but the guilt and shame of not having the man she loved with the box of chocolates that showed her feelings for him. Crying to herself, a black cloud of rain quickly hovered over her head and within moments, drenched her in everything of the sin she had caused.. Sakura quickly shook the thought off and pumped her fist to her chest. 'NO!' She would not let this happen. With fire blazing tremendously into her eyes, the Haruno vowed to herself to not allow for this year's Valentine's day to turn into fail._ Ever._

"Not that I know of," Kakashi spoke, causing Sakura to turn back to attention. "But if you guys want, we can plan something that our class can do in celebration." he smiled. "But first, I'll have to get the school's approval and we'll see how things go from there."

Sakura pouted. It was always getting the school's approval first.

Groaning in disappointment, the pinkette slammed her head against her desk while chatters began between her classmates as Kakashi left the room. "Hmm.. we can just sell chocolate," she heard one of them say. "That's what the student body did last year."

"Yeah, but don't you think that's a little dangerous? I mean, remember last year when Uzumaki Naruto almost poisoned Sakura with the chocolate he bought?" The class bursted in laughter as Sakura's ears turned red.

The memory was vague, but it was truly a nightmare. The ultimate loser of the school had boughten chocolates for the cherry blossom and although she had tried to refuse them, he had forcefully shoved one into her mouth, saying that this was a profession of his love and she should at least just eat one. But again, as she tried to refuse his gift, the force that was injected into the chocolate in her mouth had caused her to nearly choke and suffocate to death. And.. it was literally one of the worst things she had ever experienced in her school life so far. Literally.

"Ne', Sakura-chan," a poke came from behind her, tapping on her shoulder. "Do you have anything in mind for your lovely Uchiha boy?"

Sakura slowly raised her head, turning to Yamanaka Ino, her childhood friend. A beautiful and very well-known model known throughout the whole school. Slender, blue-eyed and platinum-blond; this girl was both gorgeous and talented. Something Sakura envied and craved for. But not only that, this girl was also the daughter of a highly-successful family who owned a flower shop. A very well-known one, that is.

"Iie," Sakura mumbled lazily. "..Do you?" she slowly raised her eyes, blinking them.

"Uhh.. of course I have," her friend awkwardly pointed a finger up. "I mean, it is to celebrate the relationships between two people and to profound upon their loves, right? I could never forget of it especially since-" Sakura felt herself drown into an ocean of darkness.

"..I guess," she turned around darkly.

Ino scratched her head, unsure of what to do. Tapping a finger to her chin, she quickly gasped out of sudden shock. "Sakura, please don't tell me.." she slowly gasped. "Please don't tell me that you forgot about Valentine's day!" Ino screeched. She leaned over to the Haruno and with her nails scratching against the desk, grasped at Sakura's neck collar. "Sakura, you stupid forehead!" she cried.

Sakura refused to look at her friend in the eye, only shamely nodding her head in disappointment of herself.

"Gomenasai," she tearfully sobbed while throwing her arm over her head. "I have acted upon a sin, so I shall wait for the divine gods to give me a rightful punishment!"

"You're an idiot."

Both girls turned around to meet Temari, a girl their age who had dark blonde hair that was tied up into four ponytails. She was one of their classmates and a known 'love-rival' to Ino. Known to the school, these two were arch enemies. Worst than Sakura and Ino when Ino was still going for the popular Uchiha boy back in their middle school years.

"Temari-san, what are you doing here?" Sakura blinked.

"Pft, who cares?!" Ino dropped Sakura's collar, causing the girl to fall to the ground. "This girl, 'Temari of the mud pile' needs to learn to restyle and come up with a few different techniques on how to fix that ugly hair of hers' before she can start calling us and everyone else 'idiots'." Ino aggressively crossed her arms while eyeing the blonde. "Because those with bad style should at least know manners to be considered pretty in this world."

The girl shook her head as if merely amused by the Yamanaka's poorly devised taunt. "Hah, says the one who talks." she smirked. "You may be considered pretty to all the guys in this school, but you are as blind and stupid as a pig you are. I guess that's why your parents named it after you."

"Haaaah?!" Ino screeched. "What did you just call me?"

"Pig," she mouthed. "P-I-G. Do I need to spell it out for the stupid blondie?"

"You're a blondie too!" Ino angrily shook her finger.

"Tch, at least I'm true to myself and not someone who casually goes around trying to impress stupid, lazy boys." Temari remarked. "That's someone who's considered pathetic. Aka, the definition of you," she said slowly. "Someone pathetic."

"That was the last straw before the blond wolf howled against the full moon and grazed into a werewolf-pig."

"Sakura, can you stop that idiotic thick-brows from narrating anymore before I smash him into pieces?!" Ino turned around and shook her fist wildly. "Because I will.. and what the hell? Werewolf-pig? ..Really?!" she screeched in frustration.

Sakura slowly turned around and turned to the trembling, bowl-cut thick brows. In a corner, he was writing what seemed to be notes in a notepad.. but this was quickly dismissed as he was reading the lines out loud. Sakura gave a deep sigh and then walked over. "Uhm, Lee-san.." she awkwardly pressed her lips. "You should probably stop. Ino gets pretty feisty at times," she laughed. "When she says she's gonna kill you, she literally.. means it."

And just then, as Sakura gave the thick-brows a gentle smile, something pounded wildly against his chest. Was this to be love at first sight between the young and beautiful cherry blossom and the epic nerd of the classroom?

"Sakura-chan!" he instantly grabbed her hand as she shrieked. "Will you go out with me?" Long lashes fluttered against her as she strangely looked at him with almost fear in her eyes.

"...Ehh?" she screeched.

"Okay class," the door suddenly opened, causing all the students to turn around. "I'm baaack-" Kakashi blinked. Sweat began dancing from his forehead as he turned to each and every one of his students. Oh, what a disappointment this was.

A bowl cut man with horribly thick brows and long eyelashes was seemingly proposing his love to his pink haired honor student. The blond model and the dark blond sister of the deadly three sand siblings were at each other's collars and.. he squinted his eyes at the near back.

"Kiba, how many times do I have to tell you to stop bringing Akamaru into the classroom?" he furiously rubbed his head. "..And yes, I can see that you had tried transforming him into you again, but, Kiba. Please understand that one Kiba in here is already enough. " he looked up, dangerously revealing one red eye.

And then, the students shrieked in fear. Kakashi-sensei's eye contacts were literally the scariest of the scariest. And also, with that the boy with the brown hair and red paint on his cheeks cheekily nodded as he pulled away a sweaty grin. "Got it, sensei." he patted his fake counterpart.

At the end of the day, the students had decided to help sell flowers for the school; more specifically roses as they were the very symbol of love itself. And these ideas? From the love experts known as Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino; who was also going to help retrieve the flowers as Ino owned a floral shop herself.

* * *

"Okay guys," Ino called, waving her hand in the air. "Since Kakashi-sensei is out at the moment, I'd like for all of you to make at least two posters per group about our little contribution and hang them on the walls of this school." she patted the wall. "Make six groups of three, please!"

Ino Yamanaka was always placed in charge of the room whenever Kakashi went out. When it wasn't her, it was always Temari or Sakura. But despite all so and both Ino and Temari being nemesis's, they all were always able to lead the classroom well.

With the students nodding in agreement to this plan, the classroom was split as they all walked up to each of their classmates and devised into groups. This.. this was going to work out just fine was what Ino thought.

"Ne', Ino." Sakura suddenly walked up to her. "Since it's only you and me left.."

The Yamanaka turned around, confused at the girl's sudden approach. "What do you want, Sakura? You know I'm busy at the moment, ri-" she looked up, her teal eyes aggressively staring at the girl in front of her.

"What's up?" Temari smirked.

Anguishly trying to not break the ruler in her hand, Ino returned with a slow but wincing grin to the girl. "Uhm.. hey forehead," she turned to Sakura. "Is there another person-" Sakura quickly shook her head with her orbs slightly nudging towards Lee's direction. He, who was writing in his notepad was silently staring to Sakura, looking up and then back down. Ino gulped and nodded her head in understanding. "..Alright then," she flashed a tooth. "Well then, Temari-san..." she said slowly. "Let's get along, shall we?"

"Says you."

Flames immediately erupted in Ino's eyes as she quickly shook her fist up in the air. "What did you say?!" she tried not to stand on top of the chair. Temari casually rolled her eyes and turned away, ignoring her as usual. And all the while, Sakura was eagerly trying to avoid the thick brows who was still continuously eyeing her.

Oh, for heaven's sake.. somebody help her out of this hellish realm.

"Ahh, it's Sasukeh-kuun!" one of the girls squealed from the back. Sakura quickly turned her head in surprise, widening her gaze as she caught sight of the tall handsome light-skinned man with the recognizable black-raven hair and deep onyx eyes. Slowly.. her heart began beating as his eyes turned to meet her direction. She wanted to melt, she wanted to cry.. he was finally-

"Hey Sakura, can you pass that?"

Sweat broke from the Haruno's forehead as she blinked, slowly turning to meet Temari's annoyed glare. "..Eh?" she tried to smile. "Uhm, what did you need?"

"Ruler."

Sakura carefully nodded, her eyes slowly wandering to the basket of tools off to the side. "Ah, gomen ne'," she laughed. Walking over, she pressed a finger to the tool with red still blushing to her cheeks. Slightly turning her head to the window where he was, Sakura noticed that his back was now faced to her. "...Shannarooo'..." she silently cried to herself. If only Temari hadn't called her.

* * *

It was almost lunch break and Sakura and her group had been stationed to be the ones to be in check of selling the roses. And from time to time, Sakura would look up to the clock to read the time. She wanted to see him.. but also, she wanted to hang with Hinata again.

And maybe get more of those rice cakes for herself.

The girl cheekily chuckled to herself at the thought, returning back to her paper. Oh, how she wanted to eat right now.. Hearing the rumble of her stomach growling, Sakura slowly looked down and rubbed her stomach. That baka Ino, where the hell was she? From what she's been told by Kakashi-sensei, the Yamanaka was supposed to be back to tell them to go get their snacks. But that was only after the students had finished preparing them of course.

Sakura sighed, placing her palm under her chin.

Of right now, Sasuke would be having his lunch right now. They shared the same lunch, but as expected, she couldn't go up to him. He was always surrounded by the same bunch of girls that would offer him their bento's as always. Plus, she figured that even if she would try to go into the crowd, she wouldn't be recognized. Because to him, she'd be no one special. She'd be the same as everyone else.. but that would be until she'd do something extraordinary.

Something that would separate her from the rest of the crowd.

Her heart pounded again as she remembered back to the eye contact they almost had if it wasn't for Temari. She signed again, raising both her fingers to angrily pinch her cheeks. She really wanted for it to happen... It would had been something special. Something she could think back to that signified a possible moment that was shared only between both him and her. Slamming her face onto her desk, Sakura closed her eyes, pouting out as she released a mournful sob.

"Oi, Sakura." Temari knocked against the desk. "Can you help me carry these to sensei's room?"

The Haruno looked up, half wiping away her imaginary tears and then placing her head up. "Uhm.. sure, what are they for?" she looked up to her, and then at the boxes. "Are they heavy?"

"Yeah.." Temari mumbled. "And they're just decorations for the school for Valentine's day."

"Ah, is that so?" Sakura excitingly got up. Decorations for the school, eh? This was going to get exciting! Although Sakura knew that she wouldn't be able to cooperate much into this event other than help sell the flowers, she was glad that she was gonna be able to do something else. And that meant being the one to transfer the objects to her sensei's room. Although it was something small, it was better than doing nothing.

"So, you gonna help or naw?"

"Of course," Sakura jumped up. "I'd love to!"

* * *

The two walked in silence, keeping their eyes forward while walking side by side.

It was.. awkward. Temari, the known arch enemy of Ino and Sakura, the known annoying 'side-kick'. Although they personally didn't mind each other's company, the stares they got as they traveled together made the tension between the two.. unknowingly awkward. And, this was their first at working together.

"Ne', Temari-san." Sakura began, pressing her lips to the side. "How come you don't like Ino?"

"Personal reasons," the dark blonde casually shrugged.

Sakura nodded. "Ah.." she mouthed. "Mm.. I guess that's nice. I mean, Ino does have a lot of ha-"

"It's not about me hating on her, forehead." Temari sighed, sounding annoyed. "I just don't like her because of that annoying attitude she has. Always trying to flirt with every boy she sees' and impress them as if she doesn't have any respect for herself." She was beginning to sound irritated. "But, I honestly don't care.." she breathed. "But seeing her do that to a boy that I specifically like, even despite her knowing this.. it pisses me off."

Emerald turned to her in shock. The situation that Temari was in was similar to the one she was back in middle school when Ino and her were still considered love-rivals. In middle school, they developed a rivalry to try and best the other one out in order to impress Sasuke. At first, it came off as just bitter friends who had a fun rivalry, and then it turned into aggressive rivals to love-rivals that became known to the entire school. But after some time, Ino found other guys while Sakura was left in the dirt. Still head over heels over a childish crush was what others would say to her. But Ino who supported her called it being in love. Sakura smiled at the thought.

"Anyways," Temari switched Sakura's attention back. "Why are you and Ino even friends? Didn't you two like.. hate each other in middle school or something?"

The Haruno laughed. The thought was nostalgic. "Of course," she giggled. "Demo, things kind of returned back to normal between the two of us as soon as Ino found a liking to other guys," the girl laughed. "But, I wouldn't say that I specifically hated her."

"..That wasn't my question, Haruno."

"Oh, I heard you." Sakura turned to her and smiled. "I guess I'm friends with Ino because I know she's a good person at heart no matter what other's say.. I mean, she knows what's right from wrong and, if something's not in the way she believes to be right, she's willing to stand up for it." she pounded her fist. "Also, Ino's the type of person that works to defend her friends no matter what. She's not going to be a hating person that just abandons you because you two both like the same guy. I mean, Ino does have her ways in pissing people off, but.. she would never turn her back on someone who she knows needs help." Temari's eyes slowly widened. "Plus, we were friends since our super kiddie years so.. she's basically the reason to why I'm here now, no matter if I like it or not." the Haruno slightly giggled. "But whatever it was in the past is in the past. I mean, I kind of had fun when we had that rivalry going on, you know?"

The dark blond slowly nodded, speechless on what to say.

"Ino may be boy-crazy, but she's smart in picking what she wants." Sakura pointed her finger up. "And once she's got it, it's hers."

"..So does that mean I have no chance with Shikamaru?"

Sakura paused, something cold rushing against her chest. Sighing, she pressed her lips. "Not everything works out," she breathed. "But since you and Ino aren't really friends and more like arch-enemies," she laughed. "I don't think it'd really matter, haha."

It pained her to even think in such of a way in regards to Ino, her childhood friend. But still, saying something like this for Temari just for a little reassurance and a little hope.. it seemed to lessen the tension of the air between the two. And something to it, it seemed to calm the blond girl. Smiling, Sakura turned to her.

"Ne, Temari-san." she nudged. "Can you tell me why you like Shikamaru?"

"Personal reasons," the girl muttered, looking away.

Sakura smiled. "Alright then," she awkwardly laughed. She wasn't surprised, because it was something to be expected as Temari was one of the sand siblings. All of them were known to be exceptionally secretive. Turning back around to face the classroom they were designated to go in, the girl displayed a cheerful grin. "Yosha," she grinned.

* * *

"Oh thank god that's finally over with," Temari breathed, slapping the boxes to the ground. Turning to the Haruno who was seemingly staring off into space, she slapped the girl's shoulder. "Thanks for coming forehead!" she threw her a thumbs up.

The Haruno scratched her head, turning to her. Half of her was bothered by being called forehead while the other half just being glad she was able to talk with Temari. "Uh.. no problem, Temari-san." she awkwardly grinned. "Demo, I think we should go back to see if Ino's back yet. Don't you think?" Seeing the blond nod her head in agreement, Sakura happily turned around. "Okie, I'll try and call Ino to see if-"

A shoulder slammed against against the girl, causing for her to fall to the ground. Looking up, the girl's heart pounded at the recognition of the dark-raven head. "Ah, Sasuke-kun!" she pressed her hands together, tiptoeing to his level. "Sasuke-kun, what are you doing here? It's almost time for lunch and-"

"Sorry," he moved past her.

Cold rushed, shoulders slightly moving across shoulder. He didn't even acknowledge her existence.. Turning around to try and call him again, her eyes widened as it was only his back facing her now. "Uhm," she faked a cough. "I'm sorry about that, it was my fault." she laughed, scratching her head. "I'm a bit of a clutz you see.. and tend to bump into people from time to time and today, I guess it was just you and-" the girl paused. She gazed up to him, seeing that he was completely ignoring her very presence.

"Oi, Sakura. You coming or not?"

Pressing her lips together, the Haruno slowly nodded her head before turning around. "Uhm, yeah. I'm coming," she forced a smile. "S-See you later, Sasuke-kun!" she tried waving at him. With still no given acknowledgement, Sakura slowly turned her back and ran out of the room to where Temari was. "I'll see you some time on Valentine's day!" she called him again. "Be sure to accept it this year!"

The Uchiha boy firmly raised his eyes to the shelf as he pulled out a green book.

"How annoying.." he muttered.


	3. Into punishment here they go

"Hey forehead, is the list almost done?"

Sakura looked up to meet Ino's curious teal eyes. They had returned back to their original positions with Temari gone away on a mission to get more paper for the classroom. Sakura who was stuck on duty for tracking the names and room numbers of the people who were ordering the flowers was left alone to do the work. Ino had just come by from who know's what as she really didn't say anything, but was already counting up the money.

Chewing on the pencil's eraser, the cherry blossom slowly nodded her head in reply with her eyes still tracked onto the paper. "We only need five more and then we should be meeting today's goal." she tapped. "I suggest we get more posters out and notify the teachers of the event. So that way, we'd get more people knowing about this and hopefully, more customers and more money." she finished.

The Yamanaka who had her head cocked to the side gave a slow nod. "That's fine then," she muttered slowly.

Sakura gave her a furrowed brow. ..Did she even understand what she said? Quickly sighing, Sakura returned to the paper. "Anyways, since lunch is almost up, I was thinking that maybe we could go call for Temari-san and get something to eat before heading back to class. How does that sound?"

Ino paused. Slowly bringing her fingers to scratch her head, the Yamanaka gave an awkward, but yet innocent laugh. "You know.. about that," she awkwardly sung. "I was actually supposed to tell you and Temari a couple minutes ago that they had some snacks for us.. but I was kind of carried away.. Like you know-"

"Shikamaru?" Sakura frowned.

The Yamanaka blinked, sweat breaking. "Ahahaha..." she waved, laughing. "I think it's best if I don't say anything."

Emerald slowly eyed her. "Yeah, I think so too," she muttered.

Sliding off the chair, Sakura placed the stack of piles into a box. Turning around, she glanced at her friend. She was seemingly looking around for someone... most likely that lazy bum, was what Sakura guessed. Rolling her eyes, Sakura decided to go look for Hinata. She had promised her earlier that she was going to hang with her at lunch today.

* * *

Hinata walked alone with her untouched bento. Lunch was almost over and she had to go back to class. Keeping her eyes locked on the ground as she slowly took her steps, she allowed her mind to wander, thinking about the reasons to why the Haruno didn't come. Earlier, she had said she was looking forward to hanging out with her but.. her orbs quivered. Was Sakura just like those other girls? She shook her head, clenching her eyes shut.

What was she thinking..

"Oi, Hinata!"

Hinata quickly looked up, her eyes widening just as a ball flinged right past her; barely missing her ear. With the by pass wind, deep blue traveled with the breeze that was created just as her heart had begun pounding against her chest. With bangs softly falling into place, orbs surfaced to the reflection of deep blue.. "Naruto-kun?" she slowly whispered.

"Ah, gomen ne'!" the Uzumaki quickly ran up to her. "Are you alright? I was so scared that it'd hit you!"

She stood blankly, not quite hearing the words he said. "..Hai," she breathed. Her eyes were only focused on one thing; the delicate face of the Uzumaki. His dark blond, messy hair.. his tiger like cheeks and.. those deep sky-like sapphire orbs. Her heart wanted to melt. She could feel her heart beating against her chest, pounding faster each second that passed by as she stared to him. Lowering her eyes, she felt a crawl. ..His lips, those beautiful soft glistening lips. Cheeks flared to a pink color as the girl quickly began to lose conscious.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked. "Hinata-san, are you sure you're alright?!" he quickly cupped her cheeks. The girl blinked, widening her orbs.

"..Nani?" she squeaked.

Their faces were inches apart, their eyes only set on each others. Lavender to blue with one's heart pounding and the other with a curious, but blank mind. He leaned closer. "..Are you sick?" he squinted. She blinked. Lips began to motion as if to speak, but quickly paused. The pounding of her chest ranged in her ears, dizzyingly the girl. The Uzumaki furrowed his brows. "If you want, I can take you Tsunade-baba-chan."

"T-Tsunade' baba-chan?" Hinata quickly gulped. He was going to take her, himself..? She quickly glanced away, chewing on her bottom lip. The sound of the thumping of heart only continued to fasten. Clenching her fists as she tried to push it away, lavender slowly reached to blue. "Ano.." she squinted. She couldn't believe she was actually going to do this.. to finally speak to him. "Naruto-kun-"

He removed his hands, brushing from her cheeks to both sides of her shoulders. "But it's only if you're comfortable with me taking you." he declared. The girl stared at him. ..Why was he acting so serious upon such a little situation? Was he.. worried about her? Quickly her ears reddened. Wanting to turn away as she didn't know what to think, a hand paused to her chin, raising her head so their eyes could once meet again. The girl quickly gasped.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

Sapphire gazed into her eyes, the sound of their hearts beating in unison. "Hinata-san," he smiled delicately. "If you want.. and only if you want me to. Would you like me to take you-"

"No, she don't!"

Blue flashed around. And quickly, a deadly sound escaped from the young boy as the familiar ball was swung to his head. Quickly faltering down as dust danced into the air, fingers silently brushed off the Hyuuga's chin. And slowly.. lavender widened into desperate tears.

"Naruto-kuuun!" she screamed. Quickly kneeling down beside him, the desperate Hyuuga brought her palms to hold his delicate face. "Naruto-kun," she called. "Naruto-kun, can you hear me?" With no answer given except for groans that were full of mere pain, Hinata quickly turned her head to the attacker. "Nandi?!" she cried to it. "Why would you do such a -"

It was the legendary pinkette with dark, roaring green eyes that spoke of red flames. Her hair was wildly flaring into a dangerous fire as her orbs were blazing deadly-like to the young dead man beside the innocent Hyuuga.

"Sakura-san?" she furrowed her brows.

The pinkette quickly turned to her. "Hinata-chan!" she gasped. Quickly running up to her and ignoring the blonde who was unconscious beside her, Sakura clasped her hands against the girl's cheeks, holding her face. "Hinata, daijoubou? I saw that idiot almost hit you with that horrible aim of his," she side glanced towards his unconscious body. "I also saw him touching you like this and that," she mimicked him. "Did he do anything funny or perverted to you?"

She blinked. Touching her like this.. and that? ...Funny and perverted? Her head spun back at the Uzumaki, her heart crazily pounding against her chest. _...The way his hands felt against her cheeks.. how they embraced her as they moved across from her delicate face to her shoulder to her chin. And that.. that beautiful stare. Those longing, blue eyes.._ Her face immediately steamed of red.

"Hinata?" Sakura cocked her head. "Ano.. daijoubou desu ka?"

The girl quickly turned to her. "Iie!" she suddenly shouted, pushing Sakura's hands away. "Iie, iie, iiee'!" Hinata violently shook her head from left to right, holding her cheeks as her face continued to redden. Pausing, she looked up and glanced at the Haruno. Furrowed brows that were arching one up and one down stared with widened orbs. The Hyuuga blinked. "Ano.." she mumbled.

Sakura blushed. Quickly clearing her throat and looking away, a hand quickly covered to her mouth. "D-Daijoubou," Sakura tried not to giggle. "I mean, I understand how you feel and.." a chuckle quickly escaped from her, reddening the Hyuuga's cheeks. She coughed, looking away. Catching the still unconscious Uzumaki, Sakura slowly turned to Hinata and then back at him. "Uh.. you think we should take him to Tsunade-sama?"

A slow blink came into a small smile. Giving an embarrassed chuckle, Hinata cheekily nodded her head. "Hai," she giggled.

* * *

The two sat side by side in front of the blond fifty four year old woman. This fifty four year old was their badminton coach as well as the their counselor and the school's nurse; just to make things worst. With a youthful face of a thirty-two year old, she was strong, sturdy and short tempered. Feared among all the students to be precise. Also, the youthful look she held, rumors had it that it was due to the purple diamond imprint on her forehead. Something stunning that she highly held in her beauty.

Tsunade leaned against the two with her fingers intertwined under the chin. Eyeing the two carefully with suspicion, Sakura and Hinata quickly looked to one another and slowly gulped; sweat blinking in fear. When a situation came under this woman, anything was possible.

"So," she raised a brow. "Tell me exactly what happened."

Sakura looked at Hinata as Hinata looked to Sakura. In unison, they both opened their mouths.

"Naruto was being a pervert."

"It was just an accident!"

The Haruno paused. Immediately turning her head to the meek-faced Hinata who was squinting her eyes in guilt, Sakura gave her a little nudge of confusion. What the hell did she think she was doing? Earlier, they had devised a plan in which Sakura would do the talking and Hinata would do the nodding.

"...Gomen ne'," Hinata squinted.

Sakura slowly blinked. Sorry wasn't gonna do anything, girl. Sighing it off, the pinkette slowly turned back to the woman who was now specifically eyeing her. Right now, nothing was gonna work.. So what was the best thing to do? ..Make up another story.

"He was being a pervert." Sakura repeated, now monotone. "So I cleared things up."

Tsunade rose a brow. "By clearing things up, you mean punching him to the ground and knocking the boy unconscious?" she laughed, amused.

"Like I said before, it was taking vengeance on him being a pervert to Hinata-san."

The woman no longer seem amused. Instead, there was a big, fat frown on her face. "Well then," Tsunade placed her hands off the table. "Why don't you all tell me your stories separately in private so I can try and examine what really happened." she eyed the Haruno. "And if I find out that any of you are lying, the punishment will be big. But you also shouldn't be surprised, right?"

Sakura and Hinata nodded their head in unison. "...Hai," they muttered.

And then, Sakura striked a glare at the man behind them who immediately tensed up. Rock Lee.. Oh, how she wanted to kill him.

He had passed by and was narrating his story like always and decided to write the events to what he seemingly thought was happening around the schoolyard. Passing by Sakura and the crew, he spotted the scene and decided to interpret it into his own. Confessing it to Tsunade when the woman found the trio before they could come to her, he decided to tweak it a little.. for a little amusement; or that's what Sakura thought. Sakura, Hinata and Naruto. They were gonna be in for the fun for the day. From his story, Sakura was beating on the Uzumaki due to him professing his love to the Hyuuga. And to Hinata who had rejected his feelings, Sakura decided to force herself on top of Naruto.. but to him trying to push her away, she tried to murder him. And that was the cause to why he was now unconscious.

And to all this, the roar of the flaming pinkette could be heard from miles beyond the schoolyard.

The correct story from Sakura was actually Naruto being a total loser with his horrible aim of ball and almost hitting the precious Hyuuga and then going up to her to merely fake an apology. But all this was just an act so he could touch her adorable pink cheeks. To which, Sakura took avenge on for the Hyuuga. Well.. that was the story in Sakura's head.

And as for Hinata, it was completely different from the both of them. And.. it didn't really help the situation they were putting themselves in either.

But nonetheless. The things they that they had suspected wasn't really going to be a surprise really. Because in the end, they were all severely punished anyways, along with the addition of Naruto later on. This was probably due to Sakura's other half of the story along with the 'evidence' of some past experiences(Valentine's day: Chocolate Poisoning).

"Haruno Sakura, 8 weeks of punishment. Hyuuga Hinata, 6 weeks of punishment. Rock Lee, 3 weeks of punishment. And Uzumaki Naruto, who I will be calling your parents in a bit; 6 weeks of punishment."

The group had now transferred into Tsunade's detention room. All were assigned with similar duties, but with Sakura facing the most.. which really wasn't a surprise to her. She had attacked Naruto as well as broke a couple of the school properties' ..._and_ chased down Lee. But putting that aside, they all held different, but again similar assignments with the exception of one:

They were all assigned to help the swim team.

But this was something Sakura personally didn't mind. Sasuke was on the swim team. And to her, this was more of a blessing than a punishment. A chance of no fan girls to separate the two, a chance to finally talk to him _and _a place where she could easily create plans to have some 'moments' with him. And for this, she was not going to allow for it to be wasted.. _no matter wha-_

"Sakura-san, Shizune's library."

"..Eh?" Sakura immediately rose her head up, blinking in confusion. Turning her head to the trio who was now at the door, her heart sunk. "M-Matte," she pointed her finger at the group. "Why are they going ahead, but not me? Didn't you say that we were all going to go together to help the swim group and.."

The woman crossed her arms. "After you help Shizune," she frowned. "In the library."

This.. this was not fair. For Haruno Sakura to be separated from her one true love... how dare that woman! How dare that woman try and separate her! Did she not understand the emotions of being in love? Had she never been in love..? Fire burned into Sakura's eyes of betrayal as she watched the woman leave the room. ..She was going to get her revenge.

* * *

Sakura pushed open the door.

"Shannaroo!" she shouted.

Sweat broke as she quickly looked around. She hoped nobody had heard her. Wait.. What if that Shizune-lady wasn't here?

Oh, that would be such a nightmare! Sakura quickly clutched to her hair. That'd mean for her to have to wait even longer to be with her Sasuke-kun! She pouted to herself, almost weeping as she brought her hands to hide her face. '_NO!' _She forced herself up, throwing her hands aside and wiping her imaginary tears. It'd be alright. It'd definitely will. So what if Shizune comes late? That just means that Sakura would have to work twice as fast and that's something she's always done so before. Because what, it's just putting books away, right?

How hard could it get.

Punching her fists together, green eyes looked around the library for the woman. And just then, her heart pounded in a sudden amazement against her chest. Not that she hasn't realized this before but..

_It was huge._

There were at least fifty rows of shelves filled with books from head to toe. The corners were all filled with four sets of tables, beanie bags, book crates and book computers. And everywhere she looked, there was either a stack of boxes that was filled with books or either a crate that was filled with stacks of books. For a nerd like herself, this was the ultimate heaven... _but._

Sighing, Sakura turned away. It was probably best to try and look for the old hag's assistant now if she wanted to go be with her Sasuke-kun. She couldn't afford to waste her time here.

"Shizune-sama," she began to call. "Shizune-sama, Tsunade called me to come help you with the books!" There was no answer. Turning her head back around and scratching her head, Sakura tilted her head to the side. Well.. since she was already here and never really got the chance to investigate this place before.. Sakura quickly glanced around and then with a single skip, dashed towards one of the random shelves.

Peeking into each and every one of these books as she was in the non-fiction alley, Sakura decided to go through these 'sciencey stuff'. She was always interested in these kinds of things. Especially these... flowers. Spotting an unusual green book that seemed out of place, the girl immediately raced up to it. She paused. It seemed as if someone had just putted it back. Cocking her head, Sakura carefully took it out.

It was a book on the symbolics of flowers. A multi-sectioned non-fiction with facts collected from multiple cultures. Squinting her eyes, Sakura licked to one of her thumbs as she decided to flip open one of the pages. It was something she was always interested in while growing up. Especially with having a childhood friend who's specialty was with flowers, Sakura's curiosity for this topic would only be natural. She never really knew much about flowers so right here, it'd be the perfect chance to learn some stuff.. right?

Skimming through the texts as her index finger followed tracing under the words, emerald widened to an already stuck in bookmark. Tilting her head to the side, curiosity spread and the page was flipped open. "..Daffodils," she read.

A crash suddenly came from the other side of the library. Sakura immediately turned her head to the direction, throwing the book back onto the shelf and dashing towards the subject of noise. This.. this was an investigation that couldn't be ignored! Leaning up against one of the shelves, Sakura carefully peered behind and much to her amazement..

"Sasuke-kun?" she raised a brow.

The black raven haired boy was covered in a tower of books that had seemingly fallen on top of him. Achingly rubbing his neck, he looked up to meet blinking emerald and a mouth gaped wide open. Sweat blinked as he looked around himself.

..It was such a mess

"Sasuke-kun, daijoubou desu ka?!" she quickly exclaimed, coming to his side.

He looked at her and then back around himself. "Ah.." he muttered, turning away. He didn't have time for this, especially if it was just going to be another one of those 'fangirls'. Slowly readying to get up, the Uchiha glanced at the heartening stare that was now kneeled beside him. He heaved an annoyed sigh. "..You need something?" he turned to her.

She quickly blinked. "Eh?" Suddenly gasping, the girl quickly jumped up. "Waah, gomen ne'! Am I bothering you?" The boy twitched, immediately looking away. Rolling her lips to the side, Sakura awkwardly brought an arm over her head and faked a laugh. "I'm so sorry, I honestly didn't mean to," she scratched her head. "I was just checking if you were okay and I'm so sorry if I was.. I mean, I know I probably was but.." she paused. "..Are you okay?" she meekly squinted.

He pressed his lips to the side, squinting. It was better to just ignore this girl.. Glancing away at the clock, the Uchiha slightly breathed. It was almost time for him to return back and if he was late.. the rules were the rules. Turning away and standing up, Sasuke reached for one of the doors.

"Matte!" a hand quickly grasped to his arm.

Shock traveled down his spine. With irritation scratching up his head, he gave a silent groan. If he was going to be late, it'd be this girl's fault. "..What do you want?" he heavily sighed.

"..You forgot to pick up these books, Sasuke-kun."

Onyx turned around.

"Since I have a swimming practice to attend to and since you're here, you pick them up." he rose his eyes at her. Cold rushed to her face. "And if you can't, then that's just too bad then." The Uchiha glanced at his arm and then at her hand. "Also.. if I'm late because of you, don't be surprised at anything that comes your way."

Cold shudders ran down her spin as onyx leaned to the fingers on his arm. Hesitantly, Sakura quickly pulled them away. "Ah, ano.. gomenasai!" she quickly bowed. The Uchiha gave a grunt. Looking away and turning to the door, fingers pressed to the handle and pulled away. Before Sakura could raise her head to watch him leave, her heart pounded as she recognized that he was already gone. She turned and stared at the silent books that were still on the ground.

..If somebody came in right now, she'd be looking like a total idiot.. wouldn't she?

Biting her bottom lip, the pinkette slowly bent down and crossed her fingers to read the textures' of each book. Unknowingly, she had begun reading the titles. '..Stars, moon, sun.' They were all about astronomy. Looking away and bringing the books to her chest, she hugged them longingly. ..Touching his arm like that, what was she thinking? Sakura quickly shook her head and spun around.

"Shizune-sama?" she blinked.

The black short-lengthed hair woman stared at her. "Ah, Sakura-san." she smiled. "How are you?"

Sakura pouted. This woman was absolutely crazy. Breathing in deeply and releasing it into a full sigh, Sakura frowned. "Shizune-sama," she muttered, pouting. "I was looking for you everywhere you know.."

* * *

Sasuke slipped into his black-purple swimming tights and took out into the pool. Bringing his finger to reach the black goggles, the Uchiha breathed into a slow motioning sigh. It was the pool again, the one place where he could be at peace..

"Oi, it's the teme!"

The Uchiha irked. "What do you want, Naruto?" Sasuke immediately turned, annoyed at the blonde "And why the hell are you here? Aren't you supposed to be practicing your throws for the baseball tryouts?"

Naruto tilted his head, as if thinking for a second. "..Uh, yeah!" he looked up and revealed a cheeky grin. "But y'kno.. about that, I was actually thrown into punishment! Ahahaha!" he scratched his head. "Six weeks, dattebayo!"

Sasuke frowned. As usual, he was disappointed... but then again, it wasn't really a surprise either.

"So what did you do this time?" he cocked his head.

"Uh.. my swings almost killed one of the girls in our year.." Naruto scratched his head. "Oh, and Sakura-chan smacked me with the ball in retaliation because I think it was her friend or something.. That girl is dangerously feisty y'know, I mean, her throw-back was amazing!"

The Uchiha gave a snort. "Why are you always talking about this Sakura-girl even though you know she hates your guts?" he raised a brow. "Don't you think you should just move on and find someone else? Hearing you always flatter her like this is getting annoying, dobe." Sasuke knew about Naruto's relationship to that pinkette, but to the girl herself, he never really cared much to know about her. But from what he's heard, she was one of their classmates who had pink hair and green eyes. A strong badminton player as well as one of the top students in their year. But, also probably one of those annoying fangirls' as well. And yes, he's seen her around. But again, he never cared much to pay attention to her nor the rest of the girls around him. To him, they were all the same.

He paused.

Onyx squinted at his arm. Shaking his head, Sasuke pulled his goggles back on, allowing his black bangs to follow over his forehead. He was already at the pool, he couldn't allow himself to get distracted from something so pointless. Raising his arms, he sucked in his air and was ready to dive in.

..If only.

"Oi, teme!" Naruto's voice bolted. Sasuke immediately twitched.

"What the hell do you want?" he shouted, raising his fist. "Can't you see that I'm busy, dobe?"

The Uzumaki lazily looked at the swimmer, half yawning and then mumbling few words as he chewed to the side of his cheek. "Sorry, just wondering why you came so late." he mumbled.

Sasuke ripped off his goggles. "Because of a damn annoying girl," he snapped. Naruto blinked. ..Annoying girl, eh? But was she as annoying as all his fangirls put together...? What if she was worst... Naruto grinned at the idea. Oh, this was going to get exciting.

"So teme', was it like a true love's fate encounter or something?" Naruto cheekily teased, pressing both his cheeks together. "Because I sure as hell never heard you yell something to me about an 'annoying girl' before. What's she like?"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "None of your business," he mumbled, throwing his goggles back on. "I'm going for a swim."

He grinned. "Kayy Sauce," he waved. "I gotchuu!"

Chills crawled to the back of the Uchiha's neck as they reached his ears. ...How he hated that nickname. "Can you shut up already?" he shouted. "You're literally ticking me off, dobe'. Go stalk your girlfriend or whatever. I don't care." The Uzumaki began to snicker, causing Sasuke to groan out in annoyance. "Tch, whatever."

Flinging himself into the pool, water splashed as the Uchiha dove in. He was gonna go for a very.. long swim.

* * *

"Hai, hai.." Sakura casually waved to Naruto. "Like Tsunade-sama said, hand it out to the swimmers once they come out and then take the rags to the laundry room to go wash and dry them. It's not that hard, Naruto."

He slowly bobbed his head. Sakura stared at him. "Do you get it?"

"...Not at all," he grinned.

A sigh broke out of the Haruno. Slapping her forehead, she let out an annoyed groan. This guy was such an idiot..

She had just finished the assignments that were given from Shizune and this was going to be her last task of the day. Help out the swimming team. And to make things worst for the already tired Haruno, there was a change in plans. Hinata and Lee were sent out into the track to go pick up some garbage or whatever Tsunade had commended them to do and for now.. it was just going to be her and that baka Uzumaki.

A living nightmare.. Well, for her.

"And here you go," Sakura smiled.

The brunette swimmer nodded his head, accepting the ragged towel as he elegantly brought it to his hair. "Arigatou Sakura-san," he smiled. The girl quickly blushed. He was.. a handsome fellow. Noticing this, the young swimmer gave her a small, but yet still noticeable 'flirtatious' grin. "I'm surprised, are you not on the badminton team anymore?" Sakura quickly looked at him, amazed that he'd even recognize her.

"Eh?" she asked. "Nandi?"

"Well.. I always looked forward to seeing you and Ino when it comes to watching those matches. You two are beautifully amazing, you know that?" he softly winked. "If you were off of there, I don't think I'd even watch the games anymore."

The Haruno quietly giggled to herself. "Ah, um.. I still am." she shyly bit her lip. "But something just came up so I'm helping out here for a while," she smiled. "Demo.. arigatou. I really.. uhm, I really appreciate it. We don't get that a lot, aha.."

A soft smirk danced to his lips. Leaning close to the pinkette, his dark eyes slowly softened as they met her's. "Is that so..? Well, then. I guess I won't mind that too much. A pink hair beauty helping us out, that's not really anything to complain about, right?" he winked. Pink quickly blushed to her cheeks. "Well, I'm gonna go off. I'll be looking forward to seeing you in the future badminton matches, Sa. Ku. Ra."

The Haruno silently watched as the man turned around to his locker room. Herself after he was gone, twirled herself to go back to her placement. Cheekily pressing her cheeks together and giggling to herself, a frown quickly made it to her face as soon as she looked up; completely changing her earlier demeanor.

"What..?" she muttered.

Naruto stared at her boredly with his lips to the side. "How come you're not like that to me..?" he pouted.

Anger immediately twitched to the girl's forehead. Folding the towel aggressively, she struck it against the Uzumaki who in response, was tackled to the face and immediately stumbled to the ground. Walking over and bending down, she slowly traveled her fingers to lift the sweaty rag from his poor, salty tears that were now running down his face.

"Because," she muttered. "You're annoying!"

Within minutes after that little 'scenery', the two were sitting side by side watching the swimmers practice in silence. Sakura was leaning against one of the chairs with her arms crossed over her chest with Naruto was silently sobbing to himself beside her. "Baka," she spat, turning to him. The Uzumaki automatically tensed up, his teeth chattering.

"N-Nani?"

* * *

Sasuke decided to finally resurface. Swimming upwards as he grabbed onto the latter, he looked up to search for the blonde.

"Oi, Sasuke!" one of his teammates waved. "Good swim, eh?"

He turned away and glanced at his fellow swimmer. "Ah," he muttered monotone. He didn't really care much for this guy nor any of the other members of this 'group'. To him, they were all merely newbies who didn't deserve his exact attention. Turning back around to look for the Uzumaki, orbs suddenly blinked in bewilderment.

"Naruto-kun, yamatte.." Hinata mumbled.

She had returned along with Lee from the track and was now covered in dirt. From her story, they were chased around by one of the janitors because they had thought that the two were trying to ditch class... and things seemed to happen along the way. Why? Probably because Tsunade had forgotten to inform them. But as soon as it was cleared up, they were sent here to the pool to finish up the earlier assigned assignment. Sakura was wiping the dirt off with one of the towels that weren't used yet on Hinata while Naruto was doing the same to Lee.. but for Lee, Naruto was also trying to create 'art'. Sakura was silently glaring at him.

"Baka Naruto!" she slapped him with the dirtied towel. "Stop it already with Lee-san, I will kill you!"

"..Eh?" he looked up, rubbing his slapped cheek. "Demo, Sakura-chaan! I'm making art..!"

She stared at him with her eyes literally twitching from the side. Immediately slamming the towel into the basket, she glowered her eyes and emitted a dangerous aurora. "..Art you say?" she darkly chuckled. "I'll show you _true_ art."

Hinata winced while Lee stared in awe.

Sasuke stared at the group, sweat blinking as he stared specifically at the pinkette. Watching as she leaned over and started doing whatever she was with the Uzumaki, he looked away. Something of it was bothering.. Deciding to go back for another lap, he dived back in.

"..Sakura-chan! That hurts." Naruto whined, rubbing his new bump on his head. "Why is it that when super thick brows bothers you that you don't do anything, but when I do, you always hit me?!" he complained, his orbs googly. "It isn't fair, y'know."

She titled her head to the side. "Haaaah?" she crossed her arms. The Uzumaki immediately gulped. "What did you just say, Na. Ru. To?"

"N-Nothing," he smiled.

The Hyuuga who was sitting beside him was now giggling, placing the towel Sakura had smacked him earlier on her lap. "Daijoubou, Naruto-kun." she giggled. "Sakura-san is just teasing you." He turned to her, her face immediately reddening. Quickly looking away, she stood up and pulled herself apart from him. "Ano.. gomen ne'," she quickly bowed. "I had forgotten something in the laundry room. Please excuse me..!"

Naruto blinked as he watched the girl turn away until she disappeared into one of the closed rooms. With steady sapphire orbs turning to glance at the Haruno for some reassurance, he paused. She was staring in the same direction. Looking back at the now closed door where the Hyuuga had closed herself within, the Uzumaki silently pressed his lips to the side.

* * *

Arms placed against the ladder as the Uchiha stepped out. His whole body was now sore, especially his arms. Raising his head, he blinked towards the blue towel that was placed in front of him and then ..green orbs.

"Sasuke-kun," the pinkette smiled. "How was your swim?"

Onyx immediately studied her, recognizing her as the girl from the library. Slowly bringing his fingers to grab onto the dry towel, an immediate shock ran down his spin as he felt himself glance at her. "It was fine.." he muttered, placing the towel over his head.

Sakura watched him with a content smile on her face. "That's good to hear then," she grinned.

"Sakura-san!" Both heads turned in unison, meeting with lavender that immediately gasped as they stopped in faze. "Ah, ano.. am I bothering you two?" Hinata meekly spoke.

Pink blushed to the Uchiha's cheeks. This was the first time seeing her in a while and.. Sakura turned to him then glanced at the Hyuuga. "Eh?" she jumped in with a laugh. "Iie, you're not bothering us at all. I was just about to leave and come help out with the laundry and stuff. But Sasuke-kun just came out of the pool and all, so yeah.. haha. Was that what you came for, Hinata-san?" she cheekily pulled a smile. The Hyuuga shyly nodded, not noticing the Uchiha who was intentively staring at her.

"Hai," Hinata slowly scratched her head. "Naruto-kun and Lee-san are having trouble with the washing machine. I believe they had accidentally thrown water inside," she laughed. Sweat dropped from the Haruno. "I tried talking to them, but the two had refused to listen me. Gomen ne', Sakura-san. I'm not much help at all."

A sweet smile displayed on the Haruno, reassuring the hime. "Daijoubou, it's not your fault at all Hinata-san. " she pressed her hands together. "And don't worry, I'll take exceptionally well care of them." And then, with a split flash, Sakura dropped her sweet demeanor. Angrily, pink danced into wild flames as she aggressively walked over with the Hyuuga turning around and following her. "Yoshaaa," she cheekily sung with a dark humor. "Let's see what those two idiots are doing."

Sasuke blinked at the two girl's as they turned away. Bringing the towel to ruffle against his hair, the Uchiha turned around and stared at the clock and then back around himself. ..Those damn swimmers had left without him.

* * *

"Bakaa! What the hell do you two think you are doing?!"

Both heads turned in unison to meet an angry pinkette with roaring green eyes and blazing deep lavender blue behind her; both hair wildly dancing in flames. The two boys turned to each other and then back at them. Sweat broke in fear.

"S-Sakura-chan, Hinata-san," Naruto immediately waved his hands. "Lee-san and I were just experimenting with the machine! And since you and Hinata were already out... we didn't really know it worked. So we were uh.. kind of testing things out y'know."

"With water." Lee pointed. "But, it was precisely Naruto-kun's idea."

The Uzumaki immediately threw his head at the thick-brows in betrayal. "Haaaaaah?!" he screeched. "Baka, you weren't supposed to say anything!" he raised his fist. "Now we're both gonna get killed!"

"Eh? Nandi..? I didn't do anything wrong though."

"You were the one that suggested putting the water in first before the soap!" Naruto pointed at him. "Quit lying, thick-brows!"

Hinata and Sakura looked to one another and then again at the two boys. "You two are idiots," Sakura crossed her arms. Hinata nodded in agreement. "Very idiots." Hinata added, frowning. Then, both girls dangerously leaned up to the boys with a strikingly, dangerous flame emitting from their eyes. They both gulped. "..Would you two like to play a game?" they smiled in unison.

* * *

Sasuke walked into the locker room with the towel now dangling over his shoulder. Turning to one of the mirrors and staring in his reflection, eyes glanced to the brunette that was specifically eyeing him.

"Sasuke, you're finally back eh?"

He closed his eyes. "Yeah, I wanted to go for a couple more laps." he muttered. "Why did you guys leave so early?"

The group looked to one another and then some of them chuckled. "Ahh, well.. we were kind of surprised that we were getting some super cute advisors today, so we decided to get off early so we could go talk and hang with them y'know." the brunette winked at the other guys. "And, we thought you probably weren't interested so we kind of just left without you. No hard feelings, right?"

"Hn." Opening his eyes and staring into the mirror, fingers intertwined to black locks. They still weren't dry... Reaching to the towel on his shoulder, fingers paused as they brushed across the wet towel. Black onyx sharpened.

..Those two girls, eh?


End file.
